The Guardian Series
by georgiaboy
Summary: Tenchi returns home from six long years of college life in the States. He has changed much. How will those changes affect his family. There will be many little hints of x-overs, See if you can find them. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 reposted to fix problems
1. Chapter One, The Return Home

The Return Home

Chapter One

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer and other assorted people on the other side of the big lake to my west, and not to me. Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.  
  
Walking down the path, he looked around, looking for any changes to his surroundings. It had been a year since he had been home for a visit, and six years since he had left for college in the United States. In that time, many things had changed in his life, but something's he hoped had not.

Looking around again, he saw that very little had changed. The early summer greens and browns of the evergreens and the bushes abounded everywhere, the reds and whites of the cherry blooms lined the path, and the forest was alive. The trees were bigger, what looked like the weather or flying things had even pruned some in a haphazard way. The path was relatively clear of any rubbish; someone had been keeping it clean. He always liked taking this path, it was closer this way to town, and he always felt at peace here.

Coming out of the forest, he stopped, looking upon a grassy field, bordering on a large lake. He stood there admiring the scene before him, dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt with his college name on it and a large duffle bag across his shoulder holding what stuff he needed immediately. The rest of his stuff would arrive by carrier later. He appeared to be a young man in his mid twenties, standing 152 centimeters, he bulked 100 kilos, full chest, with very little of it being fat. He had full black hair, with a small ponytail at the middle of his back and brown eyes, which at most times exuded kindness, but that could also be hard when the time required.

As his eyes gazed upon the sight before him, they became dreamy and wistful as he looked at the home of his birth, the home his father had designed for his mother shortly after their marriage. Thinking of his mother always made him sad, she died when he was very young, leaving a hole and a deep hurt in his heart.

That hole partially filled over the preceding years by the arrival of many women from some strange places, into his home. He loved them all, and did not want to hurt or loose anyone of them. However, due to his hurt, he still did not fully trust that they would not leave him also, as his mother had done.

The past few years had been hard on him. The training and school was pure hell, and the field experience was even worse. He had many scars on his body and psychosomatic, hidden under his cloths. He had been to many strange places around the world and off it. Meet some of the strangest peoples he could have ever imagined, both good and bad. However, now he had returned home, home to heal and settle his feelings for the women of his life, (as if he could). Before him a road came along the shore to end before a gate bordered by two large tree trunks about eight feet tall. As he walked up to the gate, voices came from the two tree trunks.

"Lord, you have returned," said the one on the left in a deep voice.

"Welcome home Lord, it is good to have you back. The Ladies will be very happy to hear that you have returned. Shall I inform the hose that you have arrived?" A voice from the right tree trunk spoke.

"No, that will be quite all right. I would like to surprise them as they open the door," the young man stated.

Saying this, he pushed through the gate heading up to the house. As he came closer, he noted some small changes. Off the left side of the house, more rooms had been added, the deck extended out around the new rooms. His father's old van parked in the front, a newer Mazda van beside it. A Mercedes sedan, a Honda Accord, and another sedan he did not recognize parked under a new open carport to the left of the house.

Coming up to the door, he could hear many voices coming from the house. Voices of happiness, voices of anger, most he recognized, and some he did not. A feeling of warmth filled him and with a big grin, he raised his hand to knock on the door.

Bang, bang, bang, the sound carried off into the evening and into the house.

A light musical voice came to him. "I will be right there."

As the door swung open, a vision of beauty stood before him. His smile grew bigger as a look of incredibility covered her face. A young woman of twenty years appearance stood before him, the two marks on her forehead, (which could not make up their mind if they were triangles or dots), glowed a bright green.

Dropping the bag from his shoulder, he grabbed her in a big hug. "Hello Sasami," he said as he placed a light warm kiss to her cheek.

She raised her hand to her cheek feeling the warmth of his kiss. Then a look of pure happiness filled here face as she threw herself into his arms. She yelled into the evening and incidentally into the house also, "TENCHI IS BACK!"


	2. The Homecoming

Chapter Two

The Guardian Series

Chapter Two

The Homecoming

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States.

* * *

With a happy laugh, Tenchi picked up Sasami, swinging her around in circles as he stepped further into the house, his home. Sasami laughing and burying her head in his chest, hanging on as she spun in circles, her hair and legs flying out away from him, she could not be any happier. Tenchi was back.

Swinging around, they came to a stop at the opening to the family room. Everyone in the family was looking at the pair in the opening in open mouth shock. Tenchi looked upon everyone in the room with great feeling. Here sat all those who had a special place in his heart.

A young girl with dark azure colored hair jumped over the back of the couch and flew towards Tenchi, screaming, in a high piping voice, "DADDY, YOU'RE HOME."

Picking up the little girl and hugging her close to him, Tenchi said, "and how is my little girl doing?"

"I am doing great daddy," said Mayuka with a big smile, "I love you daddy!"

"And I love you too, my little Mayuka," said Tenchi, with great feeling in his voice.

A cyan haired woman appeared out of thin air behind him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, taking in Mayuka also, "Ten-chi you are home early," drawing out his name as she spoke to him.

"Lord Tenchi, it is good to have you home," a smiling, dark haired, (bordering on purple), woman stood up from the couch where she was sitting with the others.

Others in the room looked to him with smiles of welcome, most he recognized, some new to him. There was Tenchi's grandfather Katsuhito in his priest cloths. Next to him was his father, Nobuyuki Masaki, renowned architect, with his wife Reia of 8 years.

On another couch was Mihoshi Kuramitsu in her blue and white Galaxy Police uniform with Kiyone Makibi, also in a GP uniform, Mihoshi's partner. Kiyone had come to earth to be Mihoshi's partner a few months before the adventures concerning the appearance of Mayuka in her teen form. Kiyone had been Mihoshi's partner before Mihoshi had come to earth and been injured in the line of duty during their tracking down of the Ultra-fuel thief. Mihoshi stood up clasping her hands to her chest with emotions of happiness and sadness warring on her face. "Tenchi," she said in a disappointed voice, "you're early. Now we can't have the surprise party we were planning and I was so looking forward to all the snacks we were going to have." Everyone could do nothing about what she said except to laugh.

On a third couch was Washu, a short, young looking woman with flaming red hair. Next to her a strange looking young woman, covered in brown hair with blues/grey and brown hair, "Miyow, Ten-chi," Ryo-oki said in a purring voice, as she jumped up and ran to Tenchi.

Everyone came and surrounded Tenchi, clamoring to find out why he was home early.

"Hold on everyone," said Tenchi, "just a minute. I was able to catch an early flight. So, I thought I would surprise everyone." Smiling at the looks of happy wonder on their faces, he felt justified in spending the extra for the earlier flight from the States.

Tenchi chuckled to himself as he saw that things had not changed in regards to the women of his life, though other changes had happened. Looking over at his father and his wife, he could see the bulge of her tummy, bringing into this world, another Masaki.

The changes in him were also very profound. He was surer of himself now, of his powers, and of his abilities. Though he hoped he would not have to find out how much he had changed, if ever. Looking around, he now saw the people who were his family, crackling with the energy of the powers they possessed; even his father and new mother had some power.

Even with the bickering of the women, he could feel the love they all shared embracing him as if it were sunshine on a warm spring day. He allowed his own power, long concealed and hidden, to flow out, and enwrap those around him with his own love. Looking over at his grandfather and father, tears of joy fell down his face.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" asked Mayuka, from his arms.

"I am just very happy to be home after so long, my little Mayuka," said Tenchi.

"It is good to have you home, son," said his father.

"Yes, it is," said his grandfather with an understanding smile.

"Where is all your stuff Tenchi?" asked Sasami.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, I will just have to show you. But, not right now." Tenchi said, as he smiled down at her. The last few years had added much to his height. Now he stood almost as tall as his grandfather did.

"I better go and start fixing the snacks for the party. It looks like it will be starting several days early," Sasami said with happiness in her eyes, as she moved away toward the kitchen. "Ryo-oki, can you help me to fix the dinner and snacks for the party?"

"Miya, miya," Ryo-oki purred with a happy voice as she followed Sasami to the kitchen after giving Tenchi a kiss on the cheek.

"All right, let's start the party!" yelled Mihoshi.

Both Nobuyuki and grandfather held up larger bottles of sake and said together, "That sounds good to me." Reia elbowed Nobuyuki hard in the side, causing him to double over and almost dropping the bottles he held.

Laughing, everyone moved back toward the seats. Ayeka and Ryoko, on both sides of Tenchi pulled him toward the couch.

"Lord Tenchi come site with me," said Ayeka as she pulled him, still carrying Mayuka toward one of the couches.

"No Ten-chi, you don't want to sit with this prissy princess, come sit with me over here," said Ryoko pulled him toward another couch.

"Take your hand off MY Tenchi you demon woman," Ayeka said as started to pull in her power to strike at Ryoko.

"What, do you think you can beat me," Ryoko laughed in Ayeka's face as she continued to pull Tenchi toward her.

Ayeka started to get red in the face as her anger built. Her Powers manifested itself around her in the form of small floating logs. Lightning surrounded her, crackling around her just visible at the edges of her clothing, her cloths bellowing as if in a wind coming from below her. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY TENCHI KNOW," she said in a very ominous voice.

Ryoko stepped away from Tenchi, rising slightly into the air, "all right princess, if a fight is what you want. Then, a fight is what you will get," Ryoko said angrily. She drew in her own powers and formed her power sword in her clasped hands.

Tenchi looked down toward the ground with a disappointed expression on his face. He stepped in between the two women, as they got ready to fight. Raising his free hand, his other still holding Mayuka to his chest who looked on with interest, he stated. "Ladies that is enough. I am not been back even an hour and already you are fighting. This will end now or I will put a stop to it." Power never seen before, started to form around his body in many colors. This power rose into the air from him like wisp of fog, enveloping each of the women.

Everyone in the room looked at Tenchi with surprise and awe as they witnessed him standing up to the two women of his life for the first time. Washu looked on with renewed interest, even to the point of calling up her holographic computer pad and starting to monitor what was happening. "Wow, these are very strange emanations coming from him. Nothing like the Jurian powers he manifested before he left us for College," Washu stated.

"You two will calm down right now, or I will lock you away for a while and we will have the party with out you," Tenchi stated. His wisp of power enclosed around each of them in the form of shells.

Ayeka and Ryoko looked upon Tenchi with surprise and wonder, as this was the first time he stood-up to them. Ayeka looked down to the ground in shame, with a rosy blush to her cheeks.

Ryoko stopped drawing in her Power; taking the point of her power sword, she pressed it to the shield to test its resistance. Feeling the sword starting to loose power to the shield she pulled it back, but not before the energy taken formed into a low power energy lance, which shot at her. "Ouch," she said as the lance hit her.

"Ten-chi, let me out of here," she said in a whining voice. "There is no reason to keep me locked up in here, it is That prissy princess's fault that this happened."

"That is not true, you pirate," said Ayeka, though she did take what Tenchi had said to heart and not yell out at Ryoko.

"Ladies, you will calm down or you are not getting out of there tonight," Tenchi stated calmly as he sat down on the couch holding Mayuka close to him. Mayuka looked up to him with big adoring eyes, glorying in that her Daddy was finally home.

"Tenchi, can you let me out of here now?" Ayeka asked with a simple voice, not wanting to raise his ire again.

"Yeah Ten-chi, can I get out of here also?" Ryoko asked with a sweet voice, while looking daggers over at Ayeka.

"Ladies, I think I will just let you two sit in there for a while and think about what just happened and the changes that will be coming," stated Tenchi.

With a level tone and more force in his voice than either woman had ever heard from him, the women looked on in shock at him. At the same time though, they both felt a warmness deep inside toward him, a warmness that penetrated to the very core of there bodies.

Reaching into his backpack, Tenchi removed an attaché case. "Father, grandfather, I have gifts for you." Opening the case a holographic key board, not unlike the one used by Washu appeared. Making several key strokes, a black circle appeared in the lid of the case. From the black circle, he pulled two objects. Both were katanas in black lacquered sheaths, one he handed to his grandfather, the other to his father. "I made these swords especially for both of you. They have some surprising abilities. They are specifically designed for defense, but are also good offensive weapons as you may come to find out. Father, I know you are not that great with the sword, but it will protect you greatly. Though, I would recommend that you at least take a few lessons with grandfather to familiarize yourself with the weapon."

Katsuhito, his grandfather, took the sword from Tenchi; slightly pulling the blade from the sheath, he bared the blade to the light. The blade looked like a well-made weapon, waves danced along the blade, an indication of the finest work. However, there was a strange glint to the edge; touching it, he instantly cut his finger. Jerking his hand back from the edge, he held the weapon only by the sheath. Looking at the cut on his finger, he saw it bleeding freely, then slowing, stopping, and after only a few tens of seconds, it healed before his eyes. "Tenchi, what is this I have seen," asked Katsuhito?

"Grandfather, the edge of the blade is not metal. A layer of diamond is sandwiched between the outer layers of the sword. The sword is one of the finest blades made, split down the middle into two perfect pieces, and compressed into one item. This gives it the sharpest edge in existence. The layer of diamond is impregnated with impurities of dilatium crystals witch have the properties of being able to absorb and store almost unlimited power of any type, theoretically, you could absorb the full power of a sun into it. Any type of energy can be absorbed, even the strongest energy bolt that Ryoko can throw. But, only if you can block the blow with the sword, so father you have to become at least some what proficient with them for that to work for you," stated Tenchi.

"The sheath has been imbued with the ability to heal any wound, including if you are mostly dead. I was able to learn the ability of the sheaths from a colleague at school. She had discussed in one of her lectures of a sheath she had made for a knight of antiquity. I asked her to teach me how to do it also, and I made these sheaths."

Washu ran over quickly, "WOW, you say they have the ability to heal. That will be a great help for you two since you are away from the house a lot where we cannot be with you. Hmmm, would either of you two be interested in some experiments concerning the abilities of the blades and sheaths?" She said as she laughed in a low sultry voice.

Both of the men cringed at the thought, "uh, not right now Little Washu," said Nobuyuki.

For a time now, the girls had been sitting in their bubbles watching what was going on. Seeing that Tenchi was sticking to his word and not letting them out. They looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and then smiled.

"Tenchi, can we be let out, please?" asked Ayeka and Ryoko nicely.

"That is all you had to do ladies, was to ask nicely," said Tenchi. Looking at them with a smile, they smiled back at him with love and appreciation. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers dispelling the shields around them. Incidentally dropping them to the floor when they least expected it.

"Hey," Ryoko said. "Ouch," said Ayeka.

Tenchi just smiled knowing what was coming next. Ryoko and Ayeka both slid in on each side of him. Putting their arms around him and laying their heads on his shoulders, they both smiled sweetly at him.

Ryoko purred into his ear, "I am sorry Tenchi, for causing so much trouble for you."

"And I also Lord Tenchi, I do not wish to cause you problems," said Ayeka into his other ear.

Mayuka pulled back from Tenchi, her little arms still locked around his neck. She looked from side to side at the two ladies trying to get back into her Daddies good grace. She smiled a knowing smile as she looked into her daddy's eyes and saw the humor and knowledge that he knew what the two women were doing.

For the rest of the evening, food seemed to appear from the kitchen as if by magic, prepared at the hands of Sasami and Ryo-oki. Ayeka and Ryoko continued to be sweet in nature, but also still cackle at each other. Mihoshi brought out the Karaoke machine and started singing. The Sake flowed freely around the room, Tenchi even partaking of the sake, even though it was not his liquid of choice after being in America for six years.

Many hours later, many bottles, (though only a few drinks for himself), everyone except Sasami, Reia, and himself were passed out on the floor or couches. He eased up out of the couch from between Ayeka and Ryoko who had fallen asleep on his shoulders. Carrying the sleeping Mayuka up stairs to her room, he reluctantly put her down to bed, finally letting her go.

Back down stairs, he helped Sasami, Ryo-oki and Reia make everyone comfortable, covering them with blankets. He levitated Ryoko up to her spot in the rafters of the living room; he picked up Ayeka and carried her up to her room that she still shared with her sister.

Sasami came into the room and gave Tenchi a gentle smile seeing him laying Ayeka onto her futon, making her as comfortable as he could, and covering her with her comforter. "Thank you Tenchi for bringing her up here."

Smiling back at her Tenchi said, "You are welcome Sasami, it just felt wrong to leave her down stairs."

As he was leaving the room, he hugged her again to himself and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "good night Sasami, sweet dreams."

Going out the door, he turned back, smiling at the two princesses, and slide the door shut. On the way to his room, he looked over the balcony to the living room below, smiling again as he saw Ryoko asleep in her usual place in the rafters, seeming to float just a few inches above the rafter itself. He saw his father and grandfather sleeping gently on the couches below.

Sliding the door open to his room, he looked upon his room that he had not called truly his own for over six years. It showed the hand of Sasami's cleaning, everything was in the same place as it was since the last time he was here a year ago. Removing his sleeping cloths, (a pair of sweat paints and a cotton tee-shirt), from the wardrobe. He changed and got into bed. The last thing he remembered before going to sleep was the looks of happiness on all of his family, with that he went to sleep with a contented smile on his face.


	3. Revelations

Chapter Three

The Guardian Series

Chapter Three

Revelations

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States.

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It was late, though Washu had not noticed; she had gone for days on end without sleep at the need. Tonight she was reviewing the data she had recorded during the episode in the living room when her little guinea pig had entrapped the ladies in his mirror shield spheres. The energy he had used was almost undetectable. It was not his usual Jurian energy. It was something more basic, yet more profound. An energy that was ever-present in the universe yet almost undetectable. It was an energy generated by every life form and at a very low level from all inanimate objects.

"I wonder could that have been a form of magic that he used. Supposedly, magic used life energy to perform its tricks. I wonder what else he has learned. Hmmm, now that I know what to look for, I can monitor the area for an attack using this type of energy." Typing away at her computer, she reprogrammed her sensors and monitors to detect this new type of energy.

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

"Hmmm, that is Tenchi's Jurian energy I am detecting, and it is coming from the clearing in the woods that the boys use for sparing and training. Let's see what is going on," she said as she adjusted her monitor to connect to a surveillance drone. As the drone whizzed over the trees of the Masaki Estate, into view came Tenchi making his way toward the training grounds. He was in his Jurian battle armor; in his hand was the master key, her monitors showed that his emotional state was calm. "Phew, that is a relief, what ever he is doing, he is not worried about it."

As he stepped into the clearing, a bubble of energy formed around him and then pushed outward until it enclosed the whole of the clearing. Washu saw that the bubble had the energy signature of the low-level energy and Jurian energy. It seemed to have the properties of a major shield, possible as strong as a capital ship or a world-class shield.

"Wow that shield is stronger than either Ryoko or Ayeka can form by several orders of magnitude. I wonder just how powerful a shield he can form and what all it can protect him from." Washu was very intrigued by what she was seeing and wondering at the same time what it meant.

The surveillance drone settled onto a tree limb at the edge of the clearing where its wide-angle lens could take in the whole of the clearing at once. On the edge of the clearing further most from Tenchi, Washu noted a shimmering in the air. In the center of this dim light, the form of a humanoid in archaic armor was forming. Zooming the camera in on the humanoid, there were several things she noted about him, because he was obviously a man, that were strange.

He was clothed in archaic armor; there were similarities to Jurian and several other advanced cloth armors. A cloth like the desert peoples of many desert environments wore covered his face and head, this did not allow her to get a good look at his face and verify which humanoid race he came from. Her Monitors noted that he was exuding Jurian and the same low level energy that Tenchi was using, but he was not giving any indication of producing the low level energy that a living or inanimate object would give off. This had her rubbing her head in confusion. Then she looked at his eyes or where his eyes should have been, the orbs of his eyes were totally black as a void.

Upon see this, something deep in her memory was triggered, something from far far in her past, from the times before her tenure at the Galactic Academy. She wondered about this, trying to dredge up the elusive memory, but it would not come to the surface.

"Oh well, it will come to me, he he he," Washu said, scratching the back of her head.

Looking back at the screen, she noticed that both of them had fell to sparing at a very intense level, way above what she had watched when Lord Katsuhito and Tenchi had spared. Not only were they sparing with blades, energy bolts thrown at each other, movable shields formed to block them. What appeared to be phantasms formed to attack each other's opponents, waves of light and shadow moved across the clearing. Objects not unlike her drones floated around, firing beam weapons, physical attacks, waveform, sonic, and even the low energy attacks. Tenchi was able to dodge or shield himself from all of the attacks while still defending himself from the attacks of the other humanoid and even get in many of his own attacks.

This went on for an hour, the attacks, feints, and defenses by the two, and then suddenly it ended. The two bowed to each other, the archaic humanoid faded from view and the shield disappeared. Washu saw that Tenchi was making his way back to the house and got up from her computer terminal to meet him in the house.

Washu stepped out of the lab just as Tenchi was sliding the front door shut. "Good evening or morning Tenchi. You are up early or staying up late as the choice may be," said Washu with an innocent smile.

Tenchi looked winded but well rested, now dressed in sports shorts and a sweatshirt with a strange crest on it with the letters M.U. raised on the crest. "Good morning Little Washu, I did get a few hours sleep last night after the party. Did you enjoy the show this morning?" Tenchi said with a mischievous smile.

With her head slightly lowered and blush lighting up her cheeks she said, "Ugh, I was working on an experiment and was just hungry for a snack. It is only a coincident that we meet here at the same time."

Tenchi smiled down at the diminutive Washu, and said, "Its ok, I am not trying to keep it secret, but I would rather you not talk to anyone about it except Grandfather, since I noticed that he also was watching." Putting his arm on her shoulder, he turned her toward the kitchen, "Now how about those snacks you spoke of, I am a little hungry and then a few more hours sleep."

Washu felt very warm inside from Tenchi's hand lying on her shoulder and with him walking next to her leading her toward the kitchen.

At first light Tenchi woke to a sight, he had not seen in many years, Ryoko floating above his bed. Oh how he had missed this, looking up at her in this relaxed state he saw how beautiful she really was. Sliding out of bed, he took the blanket from his bed and covered her. The added weight of the blanket drew her down to the bed.

Ryoko shifted a little when she settled into the bed, the smell of Tenchi on the bedding, comforting her in her sleep. "Sleep well my Ryoko, sleep well," said Tenchi. He gathered the clothing he needed for the day and headed to the bathroom to cleanup and dress.

As he moved down the hallway, the door to Ayeka's and Sasami's room slid open and Sasami stepped out. After sliding the door shut, she turned around stepping right into Tenchi's path.

"Oomph," Sasami let out as she bumped into Tenchi.

Tenchi reached out and stopped Sasami from falling, holding her steady until she got her balance back. "Are you ok?" asked Tenchi.

"I'm, I'm ok," she said with a rosy blush on her cheeks. Looking up into Tenchi's eyes, she saw warmth that had been missing from the household for a long time. "Why are you up so early Tenchi?"

"I am quite sure that there are things around that need being done. I thought I would start doing my old chores again since I am back," said Tenchi.

Sasami moved deeper into Tenchi's arms, hugging him close to her. "It is good to have you back Tenchi, though now the fights will probably start to escalate again between Ayeka and Ryoko."

"I am not sure how long I will be back." Sasami started to pull away from him in alarm at the sound of worry in his voice and with the look of disappointment and concern on her face, Tenchi clarified. "I have an important job now that I have finished my training. I will be based here from home, but I will have to go away at times to take care of things."

"What do you mean Tenchi? What kind of work can this be? Is it dangerous?" Sasami asked with concern, bordering on tears in her voice.

"Yes, it can be very dangerous at times. At times, I will work alone or with a team of people. The title of my position is 'Troubleshooter', I go where I am needed to fix problems, which the people there are incapable of doing themselves," said Tenchi.

"What kind of school did you go to, that that is the kind of work you ended up with Tenchi?" asked Sasami. "I never did learn the name of the school you went to."

"'Miskatonic University' was the name and it was a very strange school that was for sure. A lot of different peoples went to that school, not all of them were human or from this reality," Tenchi said with an ironic smile.

She smiled up at him, hearing the humor in his voice, "It sounds like an interesting place. I wish I had gone there more often and been able to meet some of your strange friends"

"By school rules I could not allow that, though in our travels as a family we have also seen some weird things," said Tenchi. "I did try to get an exemption for all of you, but grandfather did not want it known all of you were here on Earth since you did not pass through 'World Immigration" when you got here. So technically all of you are here illegally on planet, though I have gotten that cleared up."

"I did not know that this planet even had an immigration entry point," said Sasami.

"As far as the Jurian, the Galactic Union, and the Galactic Patrol are concerned there is not one. They are a private organization set up in America over 40 years ago, totally unknown to the public and the vast majority of public officials. Some 'Heads-of State' know of them, but not many, Grandfather knows of them though. The University helped to set up this organization because of a higher influx of off-worlders. The University has been around for several millenniums, they even have records of when the Earth was a Jurian Colony, and that was a long time ago."

"Wow, I would love to hear more of this school," said Sasami with wonder. "But, I need to get down stairs and make breakfast; some of the others will be waking up soon."

Tenchi relaxed his hold on her and she reluctantly pulled away from his comforting embrace. Moving down the stairs, she wondered at the change in Tenchi. He used to be so standoffish with every one, not showing any emotion except shyness to any of the women in his life. It felt nice, the way Tenchi had held her, so comfortable, so right; she hoped that she was the one that he 'chose'. With a sigh, she made her way into the kitchen to start making breakfast.

At breakfast that morning things seemed as if nothing had changed, Ayeka and Ryoko sat on either side of Tenchi, each trying to get him to pay more attention to her.

"Ten-chi have some more," said Ryoko as she raised her food laden chopsticks to his mouth.

"Get away from him you demon," Ayeka said as she pulled Tenchi away from her.

"That is enough Ladies, I am done anyway. Thanks for the great food Sasami, it was as good, if not better than I remembered," said Tenchi.

"But Ten-chi, when are you going to tell this prissy princess that you have chosen me, so she will leave us alone," said Ryoko in a condescending voice.

"Choose you? Lord Tenchi will do no such thing! You must be dreaming if you think that he will choose you," yelled Ayeka.

"I said, 'that is enough Ladies,' and you are partially right Ayeka," said Tenchi.

With this said he had everyone's attention in the room. Ayeka and Ryoko looked at him in shock.

"I have made my decision on that subject, and my decision is that I will not make a choice" and with that said, Tenchi got up to leave the room.

"Daddy, don't be mad," Mayuka looked at him with worry on her face.

"It will be ok Little Mayuka, everything will work out, you will see," said Tenchi, as he gave her a hug and then headed out of the room.

Most in the room had looks of confusion on their faces. Ayeka and Ryoko had tears flowing down their faces that they had not been chosen by Tenchi, not understanding what he meant by what he had said.

Mihoshi just looked at Kiyone with the normal confusion in her eyes, "what did he mean by that?"

"I am not sure, but the girls did not like the answer that is for sure," she said looking over at Ayeka and Ryoko with an interested look on her face. Is there hope for me, she thought.

Katsuhito and Nobuyuki looked at each other with knowing smiles on their faces. Nobuyuki pulled his wallet from his pocket and passed over to Katsuhito several bills. "I guess you had it right Father."

"Yes I did. I thought of that option a long time ago," said Katsuhito.

Ayeka and Ryoko looked over at them with confusion blatant on their faces.

Sasami, Ryo-oki, and Washu looked at each other with knowing looks also. Sasami shot her arm into the arm with enthusiasm, "Yes," Sasami said with deep feeling in her voice.

Tenchi started toward the back door, from behind him, he heard Grandfather call out, "Tenchi, there is an assignment board next to the door. Initial next to the job you are going to do so that others do not repeat what you do."

"Ok grandpa," hmmm, that is a good plan, that way there is no assigning of jobs, people do what they do best, thought Tenchi. Coming up to the board, he saw that several jobs were assigned on a rotational basis, these jobs being the ones that none of them liked doing.

He signed out to go to the fields, at least there, he will have some peace, and quite for a while, he hoped. Going into the tool/storage shed, he picked up the tools he needed for today and the carry basket for bringing back any vegetables that might be ripe.

Rounding the house, he headed across the deck toward the far shore leading to the fields in the valley beyond. The walk to the fields gave him time to think about his situation in private. Just a few years ago, before school had started, his life was a pure hell. He was not and at the same time was in control of his life. He did not have control of what was going on around him; the arrival of the Ladies, the Kagato incident, the Doctor Clay stir-up, and the Yazuka frackiss. He did have control also in all those situations also, control of his actions that is. He smiled at the thought that he did release Ryoko, which probably started all this. Though from the letter that he had received from grandfather telling of Ryoko's past, he gathered that at that time he had been working toward ways in which I could get a hold of the keys to release her anyway.

Therefore, in a way, it seemed that all this might have been preordained to happen. Maybe he should talk to Sasami and Tsunami about that, maybe she had something to do with all this, Tsunami that is.

A smile came to his face again at the thought of Sasami; she had come to look exactly like Tsunami, so she was now coming into her own powers also at last. The smile even got bigger as he thought at how the Ladies had taken his revelation at breakfast. As he left the room, he noted everyone's expressions. Father, Grandfather, Sasami, and Washu had grasped the meaning right away, though it looked like Kiyone may have figured it out also. Ayeka, Ryoko, and Mihoshi, (though the last was not a surprise, at times it took an anvil to the head to get some ideas across to her, and at times she figured out the answers very quickly), had not grasped the meaning at all. They were still stuck in the rut of only thinking about themselves.

He crested the ridge beyond the lake and gazed upon the fields that he had not visited in seven years. They had changed, the fields were bigger, and carrots were not the only thing growing now. It was a real truck farm in the American since now. There were all kinds of vegetables growing; the family might even be self-sufficient in the way of foods now, except for rice that is.

Looking to the fields, he noted which field was most overgrown with weeds and headed in that direction, (though there was not much in the way of weeds in the fields). He worked the whole morning through, reveling in the feel of working again with his hands and not worrying about anything except the removal of the obnoxious weeds. The work here gave him the time to think over many things. He now had duties outside of the family and outside of the Royal family, though that could be up for debate if the work he did was found out.

Towards noon, he started to feel hungry and remembered that he had forgotten to bring a lunch with him. He looked up toward the road to the house and saw Ryo-oki sitting on a rock next to the road in a sundress with Mayuka sitting next to her. This brought a smile to his face seeing the two of them sitting there watching him work. He started walking toward them, as they saw him coming toward them they waved.

Reaching the edge of the field, Mayuka ran toward him, "Daddy, we brought you lunch," she said.

"Why thank you, my Little Mayuka," saying that, Tenchi picked her up and hugged her tight to him.

Ryo-oki had lain out on top of the rock a picnic lunch for the three of them. "Thank you Ryo-oki for thinking of me. It was kind of you to bring this out here," said Tenchi as he sat on the rock next to her and gave her a hug.

Ryo-oki's cheeks got very warm at the touch of Tenchi, "You are welcome Tenchi," she said to him with that purring voice of her's. She bowed her head somewhat in embarrassment, so that she was not looking directly at him. Her whole body felt tingle at the thought of what he had said that morning and what it might mean.

- 13 -


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The Guardian Series

Chapter Four

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States.

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Taoxhey of the Erudo looked out from the bridge of his Dreadnaught. Before him lay his newest conquest, this once greenish grey world under a red star was the home of a fledging race, just reaching for the stars. They had not stood a chance against his armada. However, the Peoples of the Confederation had also been here lending them aid in the defense of their system. The refuse from the fight for this planet drifted around the world starting to for a ring system. Damn them, they had cost him over a thousand ships, the better part of three fleets. The remains of a space station in its tinker-toy fragility were twisted into the replica of a child's attempt to make something from straws.

Already, the salvage tugs were busy collecting that refuse to take to the manufacture worlds to build new ships, those ships that could be repaired and were not too outdated were being taken to the mobile shipyards for repair.

Someone was disturbing his contemplation of that before him. By the aura he emitted, he knew it to be one of his minions, the procurer of living material he needed to fuel his ships, ground forces and the mines.

Without turning he addressed the individual, "So Wouter, are you off again to gather more for me?"

Wouter was from the Atoion Empire, a subject race of the Erudo. An ebony skinned race from a bright/hot white star system. He stood at least a head taller than the humanoid before him. He said, "Yes Lord Taoxhey, I travel to a new dimension to scout out new prospects for harvesting. The last dimension has become void of mid-level races and the higher-level races are becoming very obnoxious of our presence, and our farming, so we leave them to their selves until you are ready to invade their reality," said Wouter with an evil smile.

"So, your Techno-mages have closed the rift to that reality?" He asked with curiosity. "How many different realities does this make that we know of and during the mages attempts to form rifts, how many times have we repeated entry to the same reality?"

"Yes sir and that one made the Fifty-second galaxy we have made contact with. I do not know if they are truly different dimensions, realities, or just different galaxies." After thinking for a few seconds, Wouter answered the last question. "From the reports I get from the techno-mages, we have never repeated an entry to the same galaxy, which is how I define the different places the rifts have gone too. Who knows, we may be going to different universes, realities or just too different galaxies in our own universe. I don't really care; I only care about finding the fresh bodies we need to maintain the advance," and protect my own people from being used by you as cannon fodder, he thought.

Taoxhey turned to Wouter, gracing him with a view of his face. "You have my permission to leave immediately."

Wouter saluted his master and left the bridge, headed for his personal ship in the hanger bay of the Armada flagship.

Leaving the hanger, his ship unfolded the wing like structures on the side of the ship at were the cooling fines for the ship's energy reactors. Winding his way through the ships of the Armada, he passed Dreadnaughts and escorts, bristling with guns, emitters, and missile launchers, troop ships with the mind controlled zombies of the assault forces, and the supply ships with the tools to repair the ships and the stasis frozen bodies of more troops and crewmembers for the armada.

Once past the outriders of the Armada, his crew aligned the ship on open space, in the direction of the staging area over a thousand light years away where the Techno-mages were forming the newest rift to a galaxy with fresh bodies to feed into the furnace that his masters called a war.

The FTL (faster-than-light) engines of his ship hurled him toward his destination, wondering if this time will be the last time, he will have to see The Master. He had made this journey fifty-three times so far and had yet to fail in his mission of protecting his race.

Ayeka, First Princess of Jurai, sat under the canopy of Funaho after her duties of the day were done, contemplating the words of Lord Tenchi this morning. What had he meant? HE COULD NOT HAVE MEANT THAT HE WAS LEAVING HER, which would just demolish her world, but what could he have meant. He said that he had made his choice and that he would not make a choice. At least that demon would not steel him away, she thought with imperial satisfaction, lifting her chin to the world.

However, what did he mean in not making a choice, and why was Sasami, Washu and Ryo-oki so happy about, and this bet that Brother Yosho and Father Nobuyuki had made, what did it have to do with Tenchi's statement this morning.

I guess I should start making plans to return home then, father would be very happy to have her home, he would start making plans again for her to marry by getting grandmother Seto to find her a suitable husband. "Errs, I am not looking forward to that." Maybe talking to Aunt Funaho, father's first wife could shed some understanding on what Lord Tenchi had meant.

No, that could not be what he had meant. Thinking of her Aunt had brought to her memory, that her father had two wives. Lord Tenchi could not have meant that! Her body sat up straight at the shock of the thought, with her eyes as big as saucers.

Ryoko sat on a limb of the tallest evergreen in the nearby forest, having a view across the lake toward the fields where her Tenchi was working today. Moping there, taking swigs of sake from the latest of several jugs she had with her.

Her face was red, not just from the sake, but also from the crying, she had been doing all morning, drinking the sake, trying to drown her sorrow.

Why Tenchi, why can't we be together? We would have been so good for each other, and you had changed in your time away, you had become freer in your thoughts. Maybe you found someone new while you were over there. This made her cry even harder, thinking that her Tenchi would leave her for someone she did not even know.

What would she do with him gone from her life; she could not even imagine that.

Maybe, just maybe, she could get him to change his mind. She would even be willing to share him with that prissy princess if that would change his mind.

THAT IS IT, she sat up straight, dropping the last bottle of sake, we can share him. Then he would not have to choose. Is that what he had meant this morning after all?

A feeling of great joy came over her, evaporating the depression brought on by the liquor. THAT is what he meant by not making a choice.

A look of shock and a blush came to her face, now understanding the reason of Tenchi looking at the whole group of ladies at the table when he had made his statement this morning and the reaction of Sasami and the others now made since. Tenchi did not plan on only choosing Ayeka and herself, but WAS CHOOSING ALL OF THEM!

With that thought, she fell from the limb.

Reilly Fluke sat at the controls of the cargo-bay tractor beam. She eased the sensor pod, weighing in at one hundred tons, out of the cargo bay and into space. This new type of sensor pod, an Ethereal Scanner would allow the Conclave to monitor the area for ethereal energy, with which they gauged the ethereal mood of the area and supposedly the formation of rifts within its sensor range. Looking up through the cargo bay doors, she could see the spiral form of the galaxy before her. This look gave her the shivers; they were a long way from home, over a thousand light years beyond the edge of the galaxy above the galactic plane.

"Sensor in place Captain," she said into the mic. of her headset.

"Good job Fluke," came the lisping reply of Captain Sithiac. "Ssstow your equipment and activate the Pod."

"Activating, now," she reported across the com channel. With the pressing of several points on her touch screen, the pod came to life, performed a self-test, informed her of the results, and sent a message to Sensor Control via FTL secure communication link as a test. After what seemed forever, an answering message from Sensor Control appeared on her screen reporting test complete and control of the sensor was passed on to Sensor Control. "Captain, test complete and Home has control of the sensor. Closing outer doors," with a few more brushes of her fingers, the doors to the cargo bay closed.

"Very well Fluke, secure your station and take a break while we get under way for the next sensor position," the captain answered.

Stepping through the sliding door into the passageway beyond, she turned up-ship toward the mess deck. On the way passing several of the other crewmembers, exchanging greeting on the way. She had been in the navy side of the Conclave now for over a year, so she was not horrified by the looks of some of the members of the crew, because not all of the crew was humanoid.

Some like the Captain were Sithian, a space faring reptilian race from outside of the Galactic Union. There was the avian race, the Crase, which the Union had never even contacted yet, a true flighted race.

What a surprise she had had, when she graduated from the Galactic Science Academy with a master's degree in theoretical-astro physics and her father had said to her that she was now ready to learn the family secret, that they were part of a secret and unsanctioned organization that was battling the greatest known evil in existence. When she had the name of this evil, all her father had said was "he is the one who could not be named." He went on to say that, her course of study at the Academy was leading into areas that were a specialty for the Conclave, as this organization was called. With her research into a low-level energy waveform, which she had discovered, but not reported, was the basis of many of the abilities of the Conclave.

She had gone on to join the Conclave and had been surprised at its size or lack of that is. It was a very small organization in relation to the area it covered, which was the area of several galaxies. However, she was to find out that the organization did not just exist in this reality, but in many realities, across many galaxies and universes. They maybe small, but they were very powerful.

With her initial training done on an out-of-the-way planet, she had found even more surprises about the Conclave. She knew that other advanced species existed, but had thought them rare since there were only a few know in the Union. But at the training center she had meet many different advanced species, some from civilizations that were not even space faring in the sense she understood, but races that even her own people would have considered gods or goddesses. The biggest surprise she had was learning that magic was real and that the low-level energy she had learned to detect was the energy bases for magic. With that discovery, she had been instrumental in the production of a long-range sensor for monitoring ethereal energy as this low-level energy is known as, and as the inventor of this sensor, it had brought her on this mission for placing a net of these sensors to monitor its level and color. What a surprise to her to learn that some peoples could actually see this energy and that it had colors depending on the mood of the energy.

She felt through the soles of her deck shoes the engines of the ship power-up, as they got underway for the next point to emplace a sensor pod.

Conclave Headquarters

Universe 0142AQ

Earth 0442

Hideaki Bartel, commander of the Conclave Outpost on Earth 0442, Universe 0142AQ, sat in his stuffed chair reading a Jurian History text. The chair sat in front of an open fireplace in the reading room of his home. However, in reality his home was above the headquarters complex. This complex, hidden in plain view, here in the Northwest part of America sat on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The base under the house, situated deep under the Olympic mountain range, with several outlets into the ocean where the starships that were there could come and go without too much problem of observation.

He was researching the disappearances of the prime goddesses from this reality. Their disappearances seem to have happened at different times in the past, though their influence on this realm was still apparent even until this day. So maybe they had not really disappeared, just stepped back from being obvious, as most of the Prime gods and Goddesses in the other Universes had done with the coming of technology.

It was sad, with the coming of technology, beings tended to drift away from their gods and goddesses. Nevertheless, in this reality, it seems that the lesser gods and goddess were working around that and still carrying on the fight against the darker side of the mystique beings know as devils and demons to most.

The phone on the end table next to his chair let out a ring. Picking it up, "Bartel here," he said.

"Sir, sensor twelve is in place and activated. We now have seventy-five percent coverage of the galaxy on the upper side," said the watch officer down below.

"Any reaction on the sensors worth mentioning?" asked Bartel.

"We are picking up a large concentration of ethereal energy that is similar to the energy levels surrounding the formation of a rift," stated the watch officer.

"Any idea from which reality it is from?"

"Analysis appears to show it originating from Universe 02783EE, the home Universe of the Erudo"

"Well, there goes the neighborhood. We had better get a scout team out there. Since it is on the edge of Jurian space, let's send Masaki to find out what's going on."

"Sir, you know he is not all that experienced with Conclave business yet?"

"He has plenty of experience in combat and his Jurian heritage will do him good if needed and contact Immigration to be on the watch for insurgents. Send them the ethereal and spectral data on the races from that realm so that they can update their scanners at the check points."

"Yes sir."

Taking a rag from his back pocket, Tenchi stood up straight and wiped the sweat from his face.As he worked, he lost himself in thought about the Ladies in his Heart.

Ryoko, even though she was a little ragged around the edges. He knew that it was all a front. Her aurora showed her to be a kind a gently person hiding behind a front. He knew her to be hurting by what Kagato had made her do; she only thought of herself as a marionette, not really thinking of herself as a real person. All that had happened, all the peoples she had hurt over the centuries weighted heavily on her soul. He new that by Kami-sama bringing all of them together had helped her greatly, finally giving her the family life she had needed to grow up and be a real person. He only hoped that he would be able to be everything she wanted him to be.

Ayeka, she was so refined when she had arrived that at first he had not known how to act around her. She acted so much the "Royal", that he just knew that she had not had many real friends when she was growing up. Now she had softened by being around everyone and she had actually found a real friend in Ryoko even though she did not show it. He knew she even had a sadistic side to her, though later that could become interesting.

Sasami, she was so sweet, there was no way that anyone could not love her. She was the perfect Lady, even more so than Ayeka. However, with her, it was not forced; it just was natural for her to be that way. She cared for everyone the same, be it friend or not. That is the goddess side of her showing, even though she was this way even before she merged with Tsunami.

Mihoshi, yes she was a little dizzy, (who you kidding), but after some of the reports he had seen at headquarters he now understood why. However, he loved her the way she was. She was so open about everything, she did not hide behind any facade, she was truly who she was, even now. Her professionalism at times would surprise people at times, but not him, not anymore.

Washu was very smart and beautiful; she was smarter than most people in the Conclave were. However, she had given up so much cause of her Hurt. She had given up her station and her memories cause of the insensitivity of her husbands family toward her. She had regressed into this child form to hide from the actions of adults. People looking at her only saw a child protégé, not the real her, however he did know the real her and respected her for what she had gone through and what she had lived through since. While imprisoned by Kagato, she had watched the abuse he had put her child Ryoko through and the pain he caused her by sending her off to hurt people.

Ryo-oki; since she had assimilated with the Maus and gained enough mass to form her humanoid form she had become more of a real person and not just a pet. She had gained a real personality other than just being a cabbot. He had already loved her before the change, but now he loved her even more. She was a lot like Sasami, she was so sweet and innocent taking everything at face value, though when anyone she considered family was threatened, she would show her bad temper.

Finally, there is Kiyone; she had come late to the family. She was Mihoshi's friend and partner for several years before Mihoshi had came to Earth. She was injured badly during a mission and had taken a long time to recover. She had come to join us, shortly after the Royal family had first visited. She had easily become a part of the family, fitting in easily, and she was able to work with and understand Mihoshi better than anyone of us. She showed great concern for her friends, would do anything for them, and because of that, he had come to love her also.

Looking at the placement of the sun, he saw that it was getting on toward evening, time to stop for the day. Taking up the tools and the basket with the ripe vegetables, he had picked today he started for home.

Walking across the deck-bridge he looked at the house before him, a smile came to his face thinking of what had passed and what was to come. He had made his decision about the women, now he had only to get them to see what his decision was.

Around back, he put away his tools and placed the vegetables in their respective holding baskets that Sasami had set out. Stepping through the backdoor, he found Sasami with Ryo-oki hard at work finishing dinner.

Sasami and Ryo-oki looked over to him and smiled, "dinner will be ready soon," said Sasami.

The smile she gave him warmed him so much, now he knew that the decision he had made is the right one, he did not want to hurt or give up any of them, not a one. "Good, I am starved. I will go get cleaned up then," he said.

"Welcome home Lord Tenchi," said Ayeka. "Welcome home Ten-chi," said Ryoko. They both spoke in harmony as they meet him coming from the kitchen. The surprising part was that they were not fighting each other of attacking him with their affection.

"Hi Ladies, today must have been a quite day for you two," said Tenchi, looking at them with a humorous and questioning look.

A look of confusion came to both of their faces and spoke at the same time again, "what do you mean."

Thinking to his self, I ought to get them to sing together some time, their voices sound real good together. "Well, the house seems to be in one piece, so you two must not have been fighting today," he said with a smile.

Seeing his smile, they both blushed.

"Ladies, I need to go and get cleaned up before dinner. So if you would excuse me?" He passed them by, still smiling at them and their antics. He went up stairs leaving them their, not giving them a chance to corner him and get him talking, he was not ready to get into any conversations that might lead to conflict with them yet. Though he did not know that each of the Ladies had come to the realization of what he was doing and actually were starting to like the idea.

Upstairs he gathered some clean cloths and went to the bathroom to clean up. All during his bath, he expected Ryoko to pop in as she always did and was a little disappointed when she did not. It would have been a great chance to talk to her about his decision and see what she thought about it.

Coming back down stairs after changing into clean cloths, he saw that all the Ladies had already gathered at the table, but some people were missing. "Where is Father, Reia, and Grandfather at?" he asked.

"Oh, Father invited Grandfather to join his family in town for dinner," Ayeka said with a smile and blush on her cheeks.

This is perfect, thought Tenchi; I will have this time alone with them to talk about our future. Here gathered with him were the most important people in the whole galaxy, those that he loved with all his heart.

From his back pocket came the sound of a phone ringing. A look a dread came over his face as he reached to bring out the phone.

"Tenchi, what is wrong," asked Sasami with a concerned look on her face.

Bringing the phone to his face, he spoke, "Masaki."

"Sir, you are ordered to precede to co-ordinates 2357, 4421, -52 to recon the situation. A rift has opened in the area and we need to know what is going on. This area is on the edge of Jurian space and is a quarantined pre-FTL planet. The rest of the briefing is being uploaded to your ship's computer at this time," spoke the voice on the other end.

"Yes sir, I am on my way," spoke Tenchi.

With a dejected look, he turned back to his family all of them on their feet and gathering around him. "I am sorry, but I must go now."

"What do you mean Lord Tenchi and who was that," asked Ayeka?

"Yeah, what is this all about Tenchi," asked Ryoko with a frightened look on her face, dreading what she was about to hear.

"I am needed to do a job," said Tenchi, with a dejected look. "I must leave." He looked at the Ladies gathered before him, seeing the looks of dejection and worry on their faces. "I will be ok; it is only a recon mission to see what is happening somewhere."

"Tenchi, don't leave us, you only just got back," pleaded Sasami with tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.

Moving over to Sasami, he placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her sad eyes, "I have to go, it is my job, and many people are counting on me." Raising his head, he looked at all of them, "I have to talk to all of you about something when I get back."

All of them moved closer to him, Ayeka, and Ryoko placing their arms around him. "I think we know what you want to talk about," said Ayeka with a blush on her face.

"Yes Tenchi, I think I finally understand where you have been leading us all these years," said Ryoko with a tremor in her voice, tightening her hold on him. "After all this, I don't want to loose you now."

"You won't loose me Ryoko, not now," Tenchi said as he smiled down to her. "But I must be going now."

"How do you plan on going on your mission Tenchi," said Washu with questions in he eyes. "Do you plan on using Ryo-oki?"

"No, I have my own ship, supplied to me by my work." He turned from them and started walking toward the front door.

A roaring sound could be heard from outside. As he opened the front door, a starship could be seen floating above the lake out front. Its hull was angular in ship, at the rear it was six sided with the flats to the top and bottom. Looking forward the hull was constant for one third of the length, then the hull started tapering down too a bumper at the front. On the upper deck was a trapezoid shopped deckhouse stretch from the rear of the ship to the beginning of the taper. At the beginning of the deckhouse was located the cockpit, a clear structure wrapping around the front of the deckhouse and over the top. There were six turrets visible on the ship, one on each surface of the hexagon just aft of the taper, each turret sporting twin barrels. At the front bumper of the ship, two large gun barrels protruded forward.

"My ship, The Tenjin, I named it for all of you," said Tenchi with his face turning red. "I must leave now."

"Tenchi be careful," all the Ladies said as one, all with concern on their faces.

"I will," and with that said, s shimmer formed around him and he disappeared.

They all ran out onto the deck, watching, as his ship started moving away across the lake, gaining speed, lifting its nose to the sky, a shimmer of energy particles pushing under the ship forming a depression in the water, pushing it to the side, and forming a wake behind the ship. A shimmer of energy pushing behind the ship, pushing it into the shy, raising higher into the sky, heading toward space, the ship getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

They waved as he left them, carrying their hearts with him.

For as long as he could see them in his monitor, he watched them. He reached out his hand touching the screen, "I will come back to you my ladies, I promise you I will be back," said Tenchi.

- 19 -


	5. Feelings Silence Decending

Chapter Four

The Guardian Series

Chapter Five

Fellings / Silence Decending

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States.

Time/Dates being added to story to give since of when things are happening, by coincident, this year makes 7 years since Daughter of darkness has been released, if my research is correct, (if not, some one will correct me I am sure ï ). So arbitrarily, I am setting the ending of chapter four, (incidentally which was not completed, it was just getting too long and I needed to finish it) the date at the end of chapter four is Aug. 18 2004. All times and dates will be in earth time/date. So will be measurements for convenience.

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Erudo Home Universe

0250 LST (Local Ship Time)

August 18, 2004

Wouter Rodolf stood on the bridge of his personal ship, watching the actions of his crew, and not finding any fault with their actions. Looking out the forward screens of the bridge he watched the tunnel affect of the stars as the sped toward the staging area.

In the center of the tunnel was a point of light that steadily grew larger as they slowed from their trip from the front lines. The streaks of light going beside the ship were becoming slower and shorter as the ship came closer to the transition to sub-light speed.

"Speed 1.5 L, disengage FTL engines, engage SL (sub-light) engines at seventy-five percent power," stated the captain of the ship.

"FTL engines disengaged, SL engines at seventy-five percent Sir," reported the helmsman. "Gravitic braking effect bringing us to below light speed Sir."

Outside the ship, the stars stopped moving. Before them was a Red Giant star, the inner planets long burned away. Twenty light-minutes from the star, an asteroid belt circled the star where once a planet resided. A distance above the asteroid belt, safe from the asteroid fields, a large structure had been constructed. This was the gateway to another universe or galaxy maybe.

"Helmsman, bend your course toward the station," ordered the Captain.

"Done Sir," reported the helmsman.

The structure moved in the bridge screens until it was just below center view. As time past, it became apparent the station was huge. Even at their high rate of speed, it took several minutes for the ship to get to the station. The station was huge; on top was an arch that must span a distance large enough for many dreadnoughts to pass through at once.

As they moved toward a docking bay, the area of the arch filled with an energy field. Sitting before the energy field were ten cruiser size scout ships, as soon as the field stabilized the ships moved through and disappeared. He knew that they were going to the new destination to find local inhabited worlds ripe for farming.

Universe Prime

Earth Prime

2030 LMT (Local Mean Time)

Masaki Estate

August 18, 2004

The Ladies felt very despondent watching Tenchi's ship disappear into the clouds. Hanging their heads they split into small groups headed in different directions.

Sasami, Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Ryo-oki gathered their bathing implements and headed out to the onsen. Walking up the path toward the gate for the onsen, they discussed what had happened that day.

"Tenchi has changed so much over the last few years," said Sasami.

"Yes, he has become a man now," said Kiyone with a rosy blush coming to her cheeks.

"Kiyone, you like Tenchi too," Mihoshi said, her face getting very red. "He has become such a handsome man."

"Mihoshi!" Sasami said blushing very hard.

"Ahh haaa, so you like him too, do you Sasami," asked Kiyone with a glint coming to her eyes as she teased Sasami. "But then again, I believe that all of us like him, even love him," she said in a low voice, almost inaudible.

Sasami turned to the quite one in the group, "so Ryo-oki, what do you think of Tenchi and what has happened?"

Ryo-oki had been walking along quietly, the whole time listening to what the others had to say about he favorite person in the world. She loved Tenchi even more than she loved Sasami, she had loved him ever since she had been born, only with the assimilation with the Maus, had she been given the form where she had the capability to show that love the way she wanted to. She looked up in surprise at Sasami's question to her, her face not showing it much, but also very red at the thoughts of Tenchi. "Miya? Whaaat? Whoo, meee?" she asked, trying to hide behind Mihoshi to escape the attention of everyone.

"Ah ha, caught you, hehehe, so, you were thinking of him also!" Sasami said in the not so loud voice of hers whenever she caught anyone doing something they did not want found out.

All of them laughed at the way there conversation had been going. Even Ryo-oki was finally able to join in the laughing after she got over her embarrassment of being caught thinking of Tenchi.

A smile came to Sasami's lips thinking of what Kiyone had just said. Yes, she did love him and everything was going to work out fine now that he had made his decision.

Rounding the corner of the path an arch of stone stood before them. There appeared to be a thin see through film stretched across the arch. As they passed through the arch, the film did not break, instead they disappeared, and ripples radiated out from their passage through the film.

They reappeared inside the onsen, the place was huge, and multiply pools were spaced about. Trees and plants were spaced about the area, giving shade to the pools at different times of the day. The roof of the onsen was a clear material allowing the sun light to shine in at all times of the day.

The uppermost pool was actually a boiling hot spring. The water cascaded down into lower pools below cooling slightly as it went. They had several choices of pools with varying temperature, from scalding hot, to tepid, before the water finally went over an edge to fall to the lake below.

The Ladies finished cleaning themselves then settled into the pool for a soak, each lost in their own thoughts. The steam rising from the pool, segregating them from each other so that they each, appeared to be alone in the pool.

Kiyone settled back into the pool, steam raising around her, shrouding her in the mist, her mind drifting, thinking over the last few years. Remembering the times, she has had over the many years of her career. The times she had had as Mihoshi's partner before both of their injuries. Mihoshi had been a very different person then, very professional, not the ditz she is today. They had worked well together, the best team in the whole of the Galaxy Police.

Then had been that assignment that almost killed her, well actually it had for a while. For Mihoshi, the trauma of that mission had destroyed her. She felt sorry for what had happened to her, Mihoshi had thought her dead by her own mistake, and that had caused her to breakdown. Mihoshi had never fully recovered from that mission and because of that, she had lost the trust of their higher ups, the only reason Mihoshi was not cashiered was due to her grandfather being the Marshal.

For herself, that time had been a nightmare, when she fell into the chasm; she landed on the shore of the magna pool. The majority of her body consumed by the magna, only the upper part of her torso and her head was not consumed. There she died. Hours after her death, a GP recovery squad found her remains and placed her into stasis for disposition back at the Main GP Hospital.

At the GP hospital, it was decided her body was too damaged for regeneration, though her brain was still a viable organ. So her brain was placed into the body of an android until a new body could be cloned if she so wished. After several years of mental therapy and getting used to her new body, she was deemed ready to be assigned to a patrol team. She had requested if possible to be reunited with her old partner.

With that assignment, she had come to Earth; Mihoshi had been assigned here since this was deemed a low risk area. Yes, she hated the lack of action here, but she would put up with it just to be near Mihoshi, even though she complained about it all the time. However, during that time here, she had meet and come to like Mihoshi's new friends, and come to love one of them.

In a way, that disappointed her, but it did not surprise her. She was not forth coming with her feelings toward Tenchi, and she knew that she was no beauty like Ayeka or Ryoko, so had given up any hope that she could even compete with them. Now she believed that she had gotten her greatest wish, that being to be with Tenchi.

Tenchi had come to mean a lot to her, in him she saw at first a young man who would do anything for his family, even Mihoshi. He was kind, strong, and faithful, even though

the faith was directed toward all of them. All the Ladies wanted him to make a choice, but he did not want to hurt any of them with that choice, so he did not choice any of them. Now she saw him as the man he was, he was still dedicated to us, his family, but he was also more resolute in his outlook. He now had a position with some shadow organization here on Earth, which he felt very greatly about. She wondered about this organization, maybe the next time she was connected to the GP data net, she could look into finding some information on this organization.

Over the next few days, the Ladies tried to carry on as if things were normal; trying not to think that Tenchi was heading into danger, trying to think that it was as if he were still off at college. Nevertheless, it was hard. They threw themselves into their duties around the home to try and not think about what he might be getting into, even Ryoko helped out after the other women threatened her with imprisonment for her fretting.

Knock-knock-knock, Ryoko lowered her hand from a door she thought she would never willingly go through again.

"Come-in," a high-pitched, child-like voice came through the door.

Sheepishly, Ryoko opened the door. Slowly moving through the closet door, she felt a slight disorientation as she stepped onto a huge disk like area that overlooked a larger area full of equipment and holding areas. "Ah... Mother...

Can I talk to you," she asked.

Turning around from her keyboard, Washu appeared to float in the area on a cushion, "what can I do for you Little Ryoko?"

"Well.... Ah.... You see..." she tried to speak about the chaotic thoughts going through her mind, but could not.

"You are worried about Tenchi, aren't you," stated Washu, "I can understand, we all are."

"Yes, I feel so helpless right now and that scares me, I have never felt this way, not even when I was with Kagato. I want to go and help him, but I do not even know where to begin looking for him. Can you help to find him, mom?"

"Actually, I have felt the same way over the last few days, and I tried to find his ship and track it. However, his ship is too well stealth shielded. I could not even find traces of his ion trail leaving the Earth orbit. Now knowing that there are other extra-terrestrials on Earth, I have started to see if I can detect their ships and have been unable to find any trace of them. That has me worried."

"So, we can't find him then," Ryoko sad with a sad little girl voice.

Getting up from her cushion, transforming into her mature self, she took Ryoko into her arms, "I am sorry Little Ryoko, I will keep working on it though. I will find him,"

Raising her hand to her face, Ryoko wiped away a tear, "I so wanted to go help him, but now I have to trust him to keep his word and come home safe."

Washu looked down at Ryoko with a loving and caring look in her eyes, "you have finally started to grow up my Ryoko. Knowing when you cannot do something and not trying to bull your way through is showing maturity. So we will wait together for him and when he gets back, we will make him sorry for making us worry like this."

Universe Prime

0030 LST

August 25, 2004

Tenchi's ship was coming up on the area of the rift energy. The view screens before him changed the vision of the space beyond into a stately procession of stars flowing by. He read the briefing report again to see what he might have missed.

The energy signature of the rift, showed to have originated from the Erudo Universe, the energy flares of the rift indicated the possibility of ten ships entering our universe. From experience, the Conclave knew that the Erudo themselves would not come through the rift; they did not have that ability yet. It is known that the Atoion are the main vassals of the Erudo, so that is who is believed to have come through the rift.

"_Tenjin _when we transition to sub-light speed have all passive sensors looking for the intruders," said Tenchi aloud.

A subtle feminine voice answered from the very air. "Yes Tenchi, it will be done."

"How many systems are within ten light years of the energy signature _Tenjin_?"

"There are seven star systems within ten light years of the emergence point, of which one system in inhabited by a non-space faring race. There is a combination Jurian and Science Academy research post in another system."

"Hmmm, then I think we should check on the Outpost first, since they are the only advanced peoples in the area, if we get there first, we can warn them off. Then we will head to the pre-space people."

"Very good Tenchi, decisions have been recorded in the log and will be sent to Headquarters on the next scheduled update communication," said _Tenjin_.

"_Tenjin_, Put on as much speed as possible, we have to get to that outpost first," Tenchi said with an air of apprehension.

The noise level of the engines in _The Tenjin_ rose noticeable as all power available was routed to the FTL engines, taking the ship up past its recorded safe speed levels. Reaching speeds even faster than that recorded on her first voyages out of the builder's yards of just below 250k light. (For those that cannot figure that one out, that is 250,000 times the speed of light, traveling 250,000 light years in one year.)

Universe Prime

Star System 472398A

Science Academy Research Outpost

1426 LST

August 25, 2004

The planet was pristine with no high level intelligent species on it. Large areas of the planet were covered with large rainforest at the equator and temperate forest and plains reaching almost all the way to the poles.

The initial survey team that found the planet a century ago had found no sign of intelligent species on the planet more advanced that the reptilian carnivores that hunted the herbivores on the plains. So after this long a new survey team had finally been dispatched to do a detailed survey of the planet looking to see if the planet was viable as a colony. Two years before the team had set up the test colony with one thousand inhabitants from several different species, to find out who was best suited to colonize the planet.

The multi-species town was now very well set, several species had found that they could not adapt and had pulled out. Moreover, as usual, the human based species were as adaptable as usual and flourished here. The population was now up to twenty-five hundred peoples.

Buildings of two and three levels made up the heart of the town, with warehouses and small factories along the river that stretched from north to south that the town was built against the docks. Away from the town farms stretched toward the east. Farther out were larger ranches where local and transplanted herbivores were being raised.

The area was peaceful; the planet was far distant from any on going wars. The only danger in the area came from carnivores in the near forest and from of the plains.

Or so it seemed.

At the edge of the forest, several beings looked upon the outpost. They were visions of just about any ones nightmares. Most of them were originally humanoids. But then grafted to them were many mechanical parts, enhancing their abilities, turning them into killing machines.

Several, obviously the leaders, were fully humanoid in body. Their appearance was normal compared to the majority of humanoids in this galaxy, though their skin tone was ebony, their eyes were almond shaped, and their hair tended from brown to dark black.

One of the leaders raised a communications device to his lips, "take the settlement. Try not to kill too many of them."

Bursting from the forest edge many hover vehicles sped toward the settlement. Vehicles from the edge of the group spread out and heading toward the outlying ranches.

As the vehicles came within sight of the settlement, an alarm was sounded in the settlement. The few defenders of the settlement, getting together to fight off the attackers.

Bolts of energy flashing out from the settlement, arrowing toward the vehicles and their occupants. Where the bolts touched, explosion formed, on the vehicles, energy shields formed protecting their occupants. Some bolts got through the shields, vehicles and their occupants disappeared in explosions.

Energy bolts and projectiles flew back at the defenders, seeking them out, snuffing them out in explosions of their own, one-by-one. The closer the attackers got to the settlement, the more accurate their fire at the defenders became. After only a few minutes battle, it was over, the attackers were on top of the last few defenders, taking them in bloody hand-to-hand combat. The attackers using blades and energy weapons that were part of their bodies swarmed the defenders under.

The defenders did not go out easily they took many with them. The Jurians among them taking lots of the enemy with them, but numbers told. There was just too many of them. One by one, the defenders fell quite, around the Jurians; there were the largest piles of bodies.

With the defenders silenced. The attackers called forth their transport vehicles and started rounding up the settlers. First placing them into holding pens for sorting, then placing the healthy adults and near adults into stasis for transport, then killing all others. They went about it in a mechanical and heartless manner, not showing any remorse as they pored fire and projectiles into the ones not selected, the young, the old and the infirm.

Within just a few hours, the action was done, the ships loaded with the locals lifting off for space.

â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬

- 28 -


	6. Nightmare

Chapter Six

The Guardian Series

The Nightmare

Chapter Six

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States. Have not see any of OVA-3 yet so not sure where Noike Kamiki Jurai to add her, how she acts, how she reacts to Tenchi and the others. I have read some of the synopsis about her, but not enough to be able to add her to the story.

Time/Dates being added to story to give since of when things are happening, by coincident, this year makes 7 years since Daughter of darkness has been released, if my research is correct, (if not, some one will correct me I am sure  ). All times and dates will be in earth time/date. So will be measurements for convenience.

Universe Prime

Star System 472398A

Science Academy Research Outpost

0852 LST

August 26, 2004

Tenchi and _The Tenjin_ slowed below light speed on the far side of the sun from the world, which the outpost was on. Coming as close to, the suns surface as possible, using the sun to hide any energy signature that the stealth systems did not hide already. Keeping him between the planet and the sun, hiding in the energy signature of the sun as they approached the planet.

Passive search equipment on The Tenjin probe the areas around the planet and on it looking for any energy signatures indicating any form of high technology. None was found, though an ion trail was found leading outward from the system leading towards the ethereal energy source.

Slowing to a crawl, he had the ship stop at the trailing Trojan Point with the site of the outpost just coming over the horizon, still on the night side of the planet.

"Tenchi, my sensors are indicating many heat sources at the outpost that appear to be fires," _Tenjin_ said.

"Damn, we are too late!" Tenchi let his emotions take hold for a moment, then showing even more feeling and some depression, "we should at least see if there are any survivors. It is neigh-on impossible to kill all of a population, unless you destroy the whole planet.

Though wanting to head down immediately, he had to do this by the book. He had the _Tenjin_ hold at the Trojan Point in full stealth mode, searching the area for any hidden enemy ships.

After waiting two hours, "ok _Tenjin_, any indication of enemy activity," Tenchi asked.

"No Tenchi, no artificial energy sources found within range of my sensors," _Tenjin_ replied to Tenchi's request.

"Then let's head down. Looks like it is almost dawn at the site. Land us night ward of the site, approximately 30 min. prior to false dawn. That should hide us from any unwanted attention." Tenchi said all this while knowing that the possibility of finding anyone was slim. Maybe there were some people at some out of the way site that had not been found.

Tenchi engaged power to the engines, following the course that _Tenjin_ had provided. Maintaining strict stealth protocols. He brought the ship into geosynchronous orbit to the night side of the site. While entering orbit, Tenchi had Tenjin launch two probes to stay in orbit and search the planet for any survivors not at the main site. Their job was not easy; too quickly search a whole planet, looking for intelligent life forms while only using passive sensors. These devices were the best available and if possible, they would find them. Maintaining power at a level to stay at a geosynchronous position and not leave any heat or ion trail in the atmosphere as they came closer to the surface.

If anyone on the planet could have seen them coming down. It would have looked like they were seeing an elevator lowering itself toward the surface. However, with the ship in stealth mode, there was nothing to see. As they approached the night shrouded surface, _Tenjin_ searched the surface for a clearing big enough to hold her and within thirty minutes of false dawn. Finding a clearing that meet all the conditions needed, she updated the course screen for Tenchi.

"Thanks _Tenjin_," he said. "That looks perfect."

Tenchi brought the ship in slowly, easing her down into the clearing. Once down Tenchi had Tenjin engage the holographic projector and energy sinks, to show to any prying eyes that the clearing was still empty and devoid of any energy sources.

Getting up from the pilot console, he turned toward the passageway to the outer hatch. "Now comes the part I believe I will not like," Tenchi said in a low voice. Then louder, "Tenjin, listen for when I need you."

"I will be monitoring all communication and sensor channels for your call, or for any other indication of communication."

As he approached the outer airlock, Tenchi brought his hands together, grasping a finely crafted, stained, wooden ring on his right hand. With the touch to the ring, his cloths shimmered and transformed into this grey and black Jurian battle uniform. With another touch to the ring, the uniform shimmered again removing all the ribbons and frills, which could flap or get hung up on anything. Now the uniform rapidly muted its color, matching the colors of its surrounding like a chameleon.

Tenchi's face had changed also. Black marks had appeared, starting as points on his cheeks, just below the center of his eyes, the next lower on the exposed areas of his neck starting at his jugulars. Then the marks trailed into his hair, broadening as they disappeared into his hair. On his forehead were three elongated triangles, which formed their points at this brow line centered above his nose. These marks were golden-green in color. Flashing iridescently as they appeared before muting their color.

Stopping before the air lock, he touched a panel on the wall, which then slid open exposing a room filled with equipment. Stepping in he quickly gathered the equipment he would need for this recon trip. Knowing whom he might run into, he grabbed a heavy combat rifle, his modified pistol, utility belt, and combat pack. From the pack, he removed the spare clothing, tent, miniature power generator, and the majority of the rations. With doing this, he had opened up a vast amount of space in his pack. Into this area, he placed a medic's bag with lots of bandages and as much auto-medi/life support packs as he could fit into the pack and still get it completely closed.

Stepping from the equipment room, he slid the pack on, adjusted his straps. Placed his pistol into its holster on his right hip, after ensuring it held a fully charged ammo pack. Then touched his left hip where the Master Key rested in its scarab.

Moving through the open inner door into the darkened airlock, Tenchi spoke out, "ok _Tenjin_, and go to EmCom (Emission Control), as soon as I leave. Only broadcast upon an emergency. If enemy personnel detect you, get out of here and defend yourself. We can make rendezvous sometime later after the areas activity cools down." He spoke out of rote, not believing any of what he said would be necessary.

"Yes Tenchi, I will do as ordered," reported Tenjin, as the inner airlock door closed on Tenchi. "Be careful," she said in a voice full of emotion.

Momentarily alone in the dark airlock, with only the muted glow of the control panel. Reaching to the panel he pressed the outer airlock control screen, the glowing light totally went dark a moment prior to the outer airlock door opening. Stepping through the hatch and down the ramp to the ground, he stopped and surveyed the area before him. About twenty meters beyond the overhang of the ships hull, was the tree line. From the forest, the sound of insects and other life forms could be heard picking up in level as they adjusted to the miniscule sounds that had been given off by the ship as it landed.

With his eyes and ears attuned to what he hoped was the normal sounds of the early morning forest dwellers, (if this was not normal, then he was already a walking dead man). He lowered a small, transparent visor over his eyes, which used passive sensors in a headband to display energy sources, heat sources, life forms, and acted as night vision glasses. He looked around again to see if there was anything, he should worry about in the forest.

Stepping from under the ships hull, he passed through the protective energy field around the ship. Stopping on the other side, he turned and looked behind him, surveying the now apparently empty field. He nodded to himself, turned back to the forest, hitched up his pack, grasping the rifle by the carry handle and headed stealthy into the forest. As he moved through the underbrush, the uniform colors and the color of his hair changed to match his surroundings to make him virtually invisible.

A little over thirty minutes later, the darkness of the night was giving away to the lighter colors of the coming day. The sounds around him slowly changed as the sounds of the nightlife gave way to the day dwellers. Checking his mini-comp attached to his left forearm, he saw that he had moved to within a mile of the forest edge closest the settlement.

Now making his way to the edge of the forest, he moved slower and carefully through the undergrowth, taking care not to leave a trail or cause any sound that could give himself away to a guard. His head mounted sensors did not show any large life forms anywhere within sensor range, but was starting to pick up the large heat sources beyond the forest edge.

Finally making it to the edge of the forest, he got his first view of what remained of the settlement. Columns of smoke lofted into the air from the many fires burning in the settlement. It did not appear that any of the buildings had escaped the ravages of the fires. Beyond the settlement, down wind, a wall of smoke could be seen far in the distance as a plains grass fire raged and ran downwind from the settlement.

Using his sensors, he did not sense any artificial energy emissions. In several places in the air, flew this planets version of scavenger birds. Not seeing any sight of the attackers, he bowed his head and opened up his senses and searched with his minds eye for any enemy or survivors. Not finding any enemy presence within sensing distance, but finding several life forms that might be survivors, He slowly made his way from the forest edge, staying low and using the underbrush and grass to stay hidden as long as possible.

Stopping at the first of the outlying destroyed homes, he found signs of weapons fire, but no bodies. Moving closer to the settlement, he came across more homes and buildings, all shot-up, and burned.

At the edge of the built-up area, he found the first signs of resistance. Settler and attacker bodies were lying about. It looked like the defenders took many of the attackers with them before falling. The attackers were strange though, they appeared to be augmented with different types of devices grafted to their bodies, not unlike some cyborg he had seen or meet.

There were not many settler bodies to be found, except where points of resistance was found. Opening his senses again, he pinpointed where the life forms were located, off to the right and beyond the settlement. He was becoming depressed and very angry at what he was finding, or yet not finding. There were so few detectable living life forms and not enough bodies to account for the missing settlers, he was starting to believe that they had been taken somewhere and dreading what may be done to them.

Moving faster now, believing the attackers to be gone, he came to the far edge of the built-up area and stopped, shocked at the scene before him.

Flying scavengers and land bound scavengers were fighting over many bodies, from his senses he knew that what survivors were here were in the piles of bodies before him. His rage taking control him, he ran forward, screaming at the scavengers. Lowering the barrel of his rifle, he let loose a barrage of blaster fire at the scavengers. Each shot blasting a scavenger into clouds of gore.

Reaching the group of bodies, he found that all the scavengers either had been destroyed by his accurate fire or had scattered. However, looking around he saw more groups of bodies and more scavengers feeding on what remained of the settlers. Dropping to his knees, holding the rifle in his hands to keep himself from falling to the ground with despair.

From behind him, he heard the roar of gravity generators at full power coming toward him. Looking back, he saw the bow of _Tenjin_ coming over the top of the tall trees. Barrels of the main and secondary guns swiveling around looking for targets.

Suddenly, Tenchi felt the life forces of the few survivors in the area, feeling hope, he runs to the nearest. Finding a before him a pile of bodies of old men and women of several races. He tried to put out of his mind what the attacker's weapons had done to them.

Digging into the pile of still warm bodies, blood making his hands slick and sticky at the same time. He found a young girl at the bottom of the pile still alive. The peoples on top must have shielded her from the worst of the weapons fire. Though the weapons had penetrated to her, she was not badly hurt though she had lost a lot of blood.

Reaching into the pack, he grabbed a medi-pack and placed it on her chest. The pack used sensors built into the base of the pack to sense what was wrong with her and then inject medications to stabilizer her condition till she could heal.

Looking around again using his senses, he found the next live person, rushing over; he started to do what he could to save their lives.

"_Tenjin_, get down here, get me a hover sled that can navigate the passages to the med bay. We have some survivors here."

"Yes Tenchi, it will be there in less than two minutes," Tenjin said. Sadness could be heard in her voice.

After only ten minutes, he had found all that had survived. Only five people had been found, three children and two old adults. No older teens or healthy adults in their prime could be found. Tenchi hung his head, knowing that they had been taken and he had been too slow getting here to help them.

In his head, over the comm. link embedded there, he heard a voice trying to comfort him. "Tenchi, we did the best we could. We almost burnt out the engines getting here." _Tenjin_ said to him, trying to bring him out of his funk.

"It still hurts, out of over twenty five hundred peoples, we only saved five," Tenchi said with a catch in his voice. Tears rolling down his cheeks.

Moving slowly, Tenchi moved the wounded one by one to the waiting sleds and followed them to the med bay. There he slid them into waiting healing machines, which went to work rebuilding their bodies from the raider's damage.

Moving back to the bridge, Tenchi vocalized his thought, "Tenjin, the best we can do for the dead is keep them away from the scavengers. Use your main guns and incinerate all the bodies you can detect."

"Yes Tenchi, I agree."

Felling the ship vibrate from the recoil of the main guns firing, he brought his hands before him, clapping twice and bowed his head. "Kami-sama, take these souls to you, they did not deserve what happened to them. Even though they knew that coming to an outpost colony was dangerous. They still did not deserve this."

"TENCHI," the loud voice of _Tenjin_ rolled off the walls.

Tenchi's head came up as if he was shot.

"One of my probes have found other survivors. Ten thousand kilometers to the west in a mountain range. More than likely a prospecting or research group!" _Tenjin_ said in an excited voice.

Tenchi's face brightened at this prospect. "ALL RIGHT, as soon as you are done incinerating the bodies, get us moving. At top safe speed."

"All ready done. We are passing Mach Four and still accelerating. ETA to the site is two hours."


	7. The nightmare continues

Chapter Seven

The Guardian Series

Chapter Seven

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States. Have not see any of OVA-3 yet so not sure where Noike Kamiki Jurai to add her, how she acts, how she reacts to Tenchi and the others. I have read some of the synopsis about her, but not enough to be able to add her to the story.

Time/Dates being added to story to give since of when things are happening, by coincident, this year makes 7 years since Daughter of darkness has been released, if my research is correct, (if not, some one will correct me I am sure  ). All times and dates will be in earth time/date. So will be measurements for convenience.

_----------------------------------------------------_

_Universe Prime 0142AQ_

_Star System 472398A_

_Former Science Academy Research Outpost_

_1305 Local Ships Time_

_August 26, 2004_

_The Tenjin_ leveled out at twenty-five thousand meters, rushing to the opposite side of the planet, cruising at Mach 15. The energy shields of the ship pushed the superheated air out of the way, leaving an ion trail behind the ship, looking like a meteor rushing across the sky.

During the flight, Tenchi spent his time in the med-bay watching over the survivors. Watching over them while they battled with their inner demons, he moved between them, wiping their foreheads, projecting an aurora of calmness to them, to help them through this time. Tenchi moved from bed to bed, comforting them as they cried out their losses, holding, and giving them the reassurance of a comforting shoulder to loose them in. After a time, one by one, they fell back into an uneasy sleep, but feeling better, knowing that there was someone there for them, that they were not alone.

A soft voice sounded behind him, "Tenchi, we are almost there."

Moving away from the healing bed of a young girl, he wiped away tears from his eyes. Looking down at the girl, seeing the healing machine covering most of her body, or what remained of her body. Most of her body was whole, but the raiders' weapons had blown several large portions away. The healing machine would regenerate the missing parts, but it would be years before she forgot the pain and possible the sight of what had happened to her.

In a low voice filled with emotion, "I will avenge and protect you, if it is the last thing I do." Turning away, he moved toward the door. "_Tenjin_, what do your scanners show of the area? Any signs of raiders in the area?"

The sound of _Tenjin's_ voice always seemed to stay at his shoulder. _Tenjin_ modulated the speakers in the area to do this. "There is no sign of raiders in the area, by all information available; it appears that they have left the system. There are only signs of locals at the site. ETA to area; fifteen minutes."

"Any sign of a struggle in the area?"

"No, everything appears normal. There is a large volume of communication energy directed toward the settlement. It appears that they are trying to contact the settlement."

"Tenjin, bring us as close to their site as possible. I will then proceed by foot to bring them back to the ship."

"Their camp appears to be on the edge of a clearing large enough for us to land in."

"Then land us there then, I will meet them at ramp. Once we have them all aboard, we will head out after the raiders' ships. Track them for as long as you can _Tenjin_. We will get them before they get to the rift."

Moving off toward the boarding hatch, he willed his combat uniform to transform into his Jurian finery. Unconsciously he placed his hand to his left hip finding the Master Key resting in its scabbard. Rounding the corner of the passageway, he came to the air lock again.

"_Tenjin_, open the doors," Tenchi spoke.

Both of the doors opened, seeing the ramp already, lowered Tenchi stepped forward. Trying to hide his inner turmoil by bring up his best poker face. He stepped off the ramp and waited as the members of the Settlement members came up to him.

The peoples in front of Tenchi hesitated for a moment seeing him wear the royal colors of Jurai. Amongst them were representatives of several races, all of them showing signs of anxiety as they now continued to walk toward him. The group stopped short of him and the elder of the group, a Jurian by his look, continued up to him.

"Who might you be, young Lord," asked the elder.

"Who I am is not important at this time; just know that I am a friend. Unfortunately I have to give you some bad news," Tenchi was feeling very depressed with the news he was to give them. Looking down at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes, "your settlement has been attacked."

The people before him became very agitated, talking amongst themselves. Signs of stress and worry abounded on their faces. "How, how bad was the attack?" asked the elder.

Still not able to meet his eyes, "I was… too late. I tried… I tried to get there as fast as I could…." Tenchi stammered, tears dropping to the ground as he saw in his minds eye the atrocities he had seen. "Except for a few, it is all gone….." raising his head, his eyes staring into the sky, "DAMN YOU!" Having yelled out his frustration, he fell to his knees.

The elder stepped forward, going down to one knee, he gently grasped Tenchi by the shoulder. "Young Lord, what has happened, what has befallen our friends." The deep emotion of pain could be heard in his voice.

Looking up finally to meet the elders eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks in frustration, Tenchi related to the elder and the others what had happened. The pain in his voice as he told them of the horrors he had seen, caused them to break down in tears. Looks of horror came to their faces when he related to them that he was only able to account for twenty percent of the settlers and his belief that they had been taken. "I found several survivors," he said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

Gasp came from the peoples before Tenchi. Then the flood of questions, as they wondered whom it might be, they hoping that it might be one of their friends or family. The Elder worked hard to get order reestablished, and then he turned to Tenchi, "Young Lord, may we see them?"

"Follow me," Tenchi said in a low voice filled with pain.

He lead them to the ships med bay, where he witnessed the happiness, sadness, pain, and some relief, as they meet the survivors and recognized who was there and who was not.

Tenchi leaned against the wall of the passageway outside the med bay, not wanting to intrude on their moment. He thought of what he had done, what he could have done and what needed to be done. "_Tenjin_, get me a comm. line to headquarters," Tenchi requested.

"Yes sir," she said, not using his name as he had done when talking to the others, "Line is established."

"HQ, this is Recon," Tenchi said. "Status is as follows, ten ion trails found, two came to the Colony outpost, very few survivors, approximately twenty percent casualties. The rest assumed to be taken. Other ships assumed to have gone to the non-space capable. Need a recover team to come to the colony for helping the survivors and a combat/boarding team needed for the rescue. I plan to disable the ships before they can enter the rifts and then board and recover. End of statement."

A voice he did not recognize stated, "Acknowledged, several Galactic Police ships with our people on them are proceeding to the colony site, they will be there in twenty standard hours. Team Delta is on a GP ship that was already bringing them to your assistance, it was assumed you might need them as backup, they will be there is thirty standard hours or can be meet in route sooner. They were on your original course, so can be meet sooner by heading toward the Energy location."

"Thank you, ending transmission," Tenchi stated.

Tenchi turned and stopped, standing before him was the Elder.

"So you are going after them, by yourself? The Elder asked.

Tenchi looked him in the eye, showing the pain at his perceived failure in not being there in time for them and his resolve in going after them. "Yes, I have to try. As you heard, several rescue ships are on the way. Therefore, I will take you back to the colony site as soon as you recover your equipment and then head out after the attackers. I can disable there ships so they cannot escape and then when my backup arrives we can board them and rescue the other survivors."

The elder nodded at this, "I have spoken about this to the others. This is all of our team here on your ship. We can return later to get our gear, so we are ready to leave immediately."

Having said that, a vibration was felt through their feet, the Elder looked around with a look of interest on his face.

Tenchi smiled for the first time in a while at the look of surprise on his face. "We are getting under way for the return to the colony site."

Sorry about the late update, had some problem happen lately, lose of job, back in school, and also another story jumped into my head and I had to pour it out. But I am still writing his one and I will continue to do so.


	8. The Battle

The Guardian Series

Book One

Chapter Eight

The Guardian Series

Chapter Eight

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States. Have not see any of OVA-3 yet so not sure where Noike Kamiki Jurai to add her, how she acts, how she reacts to Tenchi and the others. I have read some of the synopsis about her, but not enough to be able to add her to the story.

* * *

_Universe Prime 0142AQ_

_Star System 472398A_

_Former Science Academy Research Outpost_

_1726 Local Ships Time_

_August 26, 2004_

Tenchi stood in front of _Tenjin's_ boarding ramp. Near by a Galaxy Patrol Cruiser was resting, smoke and steam coming from the area where its engine compartment was located. Evidently, they had damaged their engines to some extent to get here so soon, since they were not expected for several hours.

The Captain of the GP ship came toward him with the Settlement's Elder.

"Major we can take care of this from here on out," said the GP Captain.

"Yes, Young Lord, we are in good hands now and you did mention you wanted to get after them," the Elder said with some malice in his voice. "I just wish I was young enough to go with you."

Tenchi looked to them both, a deep sorrow in his face, and then nodded.

Moving up into the ship, the ramp started closing. In the passageway to the bridge, "_Tenjin_, raise ship, and set course for the rift with all possible speed. Follow their ion trail if possible. We will intercept them before the rift," he spoke aloud as he moved toward the bridge.

A voice spoke from out of nowhere, "We are lifting now sir."

As he enters the bridge and moves to his command chair, the bridge screens are colored red and orange with the flames of the atmosphere as the ship races for deep space. Breaking clear of the atmosphere the ship trails a long plume of flaming atmosphere into the void.

The speed build up fast, several of the outer planets flashed by as the ship left the system behind, the engine exhaust glowing bright and leaving a trail of gravitons as it sped faster and faster. Armored shields enclosing the Faster-than-light engine exhaust ports, irises open. Bright light of the energy reaction deep with-in the crystals held within could be seen if you were behind the ship. An explosion of photonic energy ejected from the crystals heralded the activation of the FTL engines. The tunnel effect of the stars happened seconds later as the ship exceeded the speed of light.

The silky voice of _Tenjin_ came from the bridge's speakers, "Based on the time it took for the raider ships to reach the outpost from the moment the rift fully coalesced, I project an intercept in five hours. Estimated time of arrival of the assault team is ten hours."

Tenchi looked out deeply into the depth of space thinking aloud, "OK then, we will make an attack pass on the raiders, disable their ships engines and communications, get the team on board with us, and then board the raider's ships. Test the actions of all turreted and non-turreted weapons and start any repairs as necessary. Update their status on the weapons status board."

Through the view screens and on bridge display screens could be seen the weapons of the ship going through their pre-activation test. Forward through the bridge-screens could be seen the barrels of the main fixed assault cannons protruding from the bow of the ship. In addition, the turreted mounts of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie turrets could be seen on the faceted forward deck swinging left and right checking the rotation of the turrets, the barrels elevating and depressing, checking the motion of the actuators. On the display screens, turrets Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot was shown going through their self-test underneath the ship. Looking through the rear facing bridge-screens, turrets Zulu, Yankee, and X-ray turrets and on the displays, turrets Whiskey, Victor, and Uniform turrets were seen going through their self-test.

Amid ship, both above and bellow the ships center line, secondary gun turrets, missile batteries, point-defense lasers, main and secondary directors, and electronic counter measure (ECM) and electronic counter-counter measure (ECCM) projectors went through their own self-test. Armored shield doors opening and the different systems riding up on elevators sealing the openings with their armored bases, or in the case of missile systems, the armored doors opening in rapid secession, the rotary missile magazines spinning rapidly, bringing the selected missile types to the firing positions. With the Self-test finishing, the systems sunk back down below the armored decks that moments before that had appeared from.

Tenchi sat there in his command chair, smiling. Thinking of the power this ship called _Tenjin_ held. A space ship the size of a World War Two Heavy Cruiser, nearly seven hundred feet long, with the firepower of all the combined conventional and nuclear forces of the planet Earth. However, with only himself being the only living organism onboard. Though it was up for debate whether _Tenjin_ was actually alive or not. Tenchi thought she was, and to him that was all that mattered. If not for Tenjin, it would require a crew of nearly a thousand sentients to operate the ship and fight her near her capabilities. However, with her help, all that was required was for him to let her do her thing.

After a few more minutes, all the turrets returned to their parked positions. The displays around him at the different stations on the bridge stopped their flashing and when into screen saver mode.

"Tenchi, all weapons, defense, and guidance systems check our fully operational," _Tenjin_ said to him. "Targets are within passive sensor range. ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) to have the targets in range is three hours. ETA of assault team is five hours for them to reach the target area of the raider ships."

Tenchi smiles at the sound of anticipation in _Tenjin's_ voice. "Well, sounds like everything is ready. Update Team Delta of our status and plans. Give them the approximate location of our projected rendezvous point for the transfer of personnel. The transport ship will need to stay in the area to assist with the transport of the survivors and any prisoners we may decide to keep." Tenchi thought on the last part with dark reflection on what had been done to the ones left back at the colony outpost. Just thinking of the cold-blooded murder of these peoples caused his blood to boil.

Laying out his weapons on the Navigation table, he started checking them. First was his Master Key; since he was the power source for it, there was not much he could do with it. Next was his DL-44 heavy pistol. Removing the power pack, he exchanged it for a fully powered one, then placing the old on into the charger. Breaking down the pistol, he checked the lasing crystal, blast gas chamber and the gas charge. He charged the gas chamber back up to full pressure, checked the optical power conduits for loose connections and degradation of the fibers. Closing up the pistol, he runs the gun through a self-test to see if any of the circuits or power paths needed replacing or modifying, and thinking of modifying, he just shook his head knowing that he did not have the time now to do modifications to either his weapons or to the ship.

He thought of his other weapons, deciding to leave them due to that he would not need them due to the close quarters. However, thinking on the close quarters a slightly evil smile comes to his face; he got up quickly and headed to the armory next to the port side-boarding hatch and airlock.

Entering the room, he stops and looks around to again familiarize himself with the layout of the weapons here. There are so many different types of weapons in here. Weapons that when he was first loading out the ship, he did not think he would need. Though now with the situations he had seen so far, he now saw many uses for the different systems in here. Thinking on what he had seen he wished he could take some of the larger weapons with him and cause as much damage as possible to the raiders for what they had done to the colonist. However, he could not do that; to do that would just cause him to start down the road to becoming just like them.

However, the real reason he did not reach for the potable heavy weapons, (like the GE-M34, the XM 214, XM-109, the LR Blaster, 'Grand Mauler' Gauss Cannon, or the Tsaumi). No in front of him, right next to the door, under the sign for repel-boarders, was the heaviest and nastiest weapon for shipboard use. He reached forward and took the Neostead-10 into his hands. For its deadliness, it was small, light, and compact. He slung the weapon over his back, then grabbed an ammo pouch and started stuffing it with several different types of ammo cassettes for the weapon and a bordello for carrying readied ammo cassettes and power packs. He grabbed penetrator, flechette, and flame-ejector rounds for the weapon. He also grabbed a number of extra power packs for the DL-44 and a variety of grenades.

Looking around the Armory, a crocked smile came to his face, 'Damn, when did this room turn into a weapons collection, instead of an actually armory,' he thought.

Having what he needed for the up coming assault, he took the items of destruction back up to the bridge. He laid out his choice of weapons on the navigation table and pulled a restraining cover over the table to hold the weapons and supplies in place for the up coming battle. He knew from what experience he had in space operations, which the artificial gravity for the ship would fluctuate during the fight. This would happen when the steering engines would turn the ship faster than the ships gravity deck controls could keep up, and with that, any thing that was not fastened down would find some rather unique and not so nice new places to reside.

Settling into his chair he attached all of his restraining belts and tightened them to the point of hurting and then a little more. Touching buttons on the arms of the chair, control boards swung into place within easy reach. Typing commands, display screens they showed to him that three ships were before him just beyond weapons range, though that was changing very fast. "_Tenjin_ bring use right in behind the center ship, it appears to be the one place most forward. Align the main weapons for a discharge close enough to damage the main engines, but not damage them too bad. We do not want to destroy them out right. Portside main turreted guns on the one to port and the same to starboard, secondary weapons and protection systems to catch any return fire that could get through our shields. Shields to maximum covering forward, port-forward, and port-starboard quarters."

In a business sounding voice _Tenjin_ responded, "Main power plants at ninety percent power. Secondary power plants coming on line and going to ninety percent power level. Main weapons on line, secondary systems now in position and on line, and shields now at one-hundred percent power. All weapons ready and trained on targets, weapons fire will commence when detected or when main weapons target ensures ninety percent success of target hits."

"Very-well, fire when all parameters have been meet or when detected," Tenchi answered all business now.

Looking through the forward view screens, the raider ships could be seen speeding away toward the rift. At the bottom of the screen, the range to the targets was slowly counting down. Reading out in percentage points, there were sets of numbers indicating for each weapons group. Main fixed weapons was at eighty percent, main turreted weapons were at one hundred and fifty percent, secondary gun turrets were at two hundred and eighty percent, and missile systems were at fifty percent of range. However, the missile weapons were mainly to be used as interceptor units, since the blast ability of the smaller missile warheads were measured in mega-tonnage and the long-range bombardment missiles were measured in total giga-tonnage. Therefore, he did not want to use them for on-target hits.

Looking forward, watching the range numbers decrease, the voice of _Tenjin_ sounded out, "Activity detected of the raider ship's decks. We have been detected. Turrets indexing toward us. Weapons directors locking onto us. Power levels increasing in areas of weapons launchers and projectors."

With the screens zooming on the three targets. It could be seen that the turrets were aiming toward them. Bolts of energy flying toward them, then falling below. Missiles ejecting from their magazines, falling away from the ships, falling behind them, falling behind the _Tenjin_, lighting off their motors and started closing on target. That target being the _Tenjin_.

"Shit, over-ride the power limiters, engines to maximum output; only decrease power on evidence of engineering plant casualty. Implement random evasive maneuvers immediately, _Tenjin_, put us where there weapons are not pointing. Start firing immediately; we have to stop those ships. If we have too, we will take them out one by one with the main bumper guns. Secondaries and defensive weapons to automatic," Tenchi said in rapid-fire orders.

Even before Tenchi's words were out of his mouth, the ship started swerving up and down and from side to side. Moving in different direction to throw the aim of the raider ship off. Every few seconds, _Tenjin_ would align herself toward the raider ships and let off a blast from the bumper cannons. Twin bolts of energy would lance from the front of the ship towards the raider ships, when the bolts converged the two beams interacted and created a humongous explosion. Each blast sphere expanded rapidly, nipping the raider ships with the edge of the blast. Each blast slowly wearing away at the raider ship's armor and each blast getting closer to the engines.

Point defense lasers slewing toward the incoming missiles. The lasers flashing their bolts toward the missiles. Leading the missiles as they fell past, trying to knock them out before, they could ignite their engines. Point defense missiles sped ahead of the ship to intercept the missiles ahead, and then the launchers slew around to fire on the missiles coming to overtake them.

Tenchi spoke aloud, designating targets for the main guns. "Tenjin, go after the ship on the port outer side. It is the one going closest to the course of the rift. The others are splitting off onto multiple vectors. Before they leave scanner range, put a recon drone on each so we do not loose them."

Laser bolts from the raider ships were coming closer and closer with each passing moment. With the raider ships being ahead of them, they had the range advantage. The computers on each side, working hard to break through the counter measure defenses of each other. Weaning through the multiple indications of the targets, trying to find which the real target was. Pseudo pods flying around in space emitting the sensor images of the real target, confusing each other's target resolutions. With the raider ships, one by one finding which one was the real target, their lasers started splashing across the _Tenjin's_ shields.

_Tenjin_ and Tenchi slowly made up the distance between their target and themselves. Because of the range, Tenjin could only use the forward mounted fixed guns; they were several magnitudes of power beyond the turreted main weapons and a direct hit would vaporize the target, and that would just not do. Even near misses had to chance of so damaging the ship that there would not be any survivors to rescue.

Tenchi had hoped to use their stealth abilities to an advantage and close enough on the raider ships to be able to take all three out at once. Nonetheless, they had gotten luck and detected them early. Now he had to do it the hard way, and take them out one at a time. Then track down each ship and board them before damage to the ships made them uninhabitable.

Closing the range toward his chosen target, weapons flashed, point defense weapons blazed away at incoming missiles. Enemy energy beams splashed against there shields. Some energy leaked through the shields, at first burning and blackening hull of _Tenjin_. In places, larger amounts of energy leaked through the shields, vaporizing portions of the hull, opening inner areas of the ship to vacuum.

On the screens before them, one of their shots finally got the range and trajectory correct. The energy blast sphere expanded and consumed the raider ship's FTL drive ports. With the FTL engines finally quieted, the raider ship started coasting down to sub-light speed.

"Well, one down, two to go. _Tenjin_ put a recon probe to follow this one, so we do not loose him. Then plot a course for the nearest target," Tenchi commanded.

From a bay on the bottom of the ship, a small starship the size of a semi-truck, dropped away and closed on the raider ship. Maintaining sensor contact with the target but staying out of weapons range.

_Tenjin_ turned away from there first target and sped toward the next, to repeat the task before them. Repair bots were already crawling across the damaged portions of the ship to try to get as much repairs done before the next battle.

Over the next several hours, Tenchi and _Tenjin_ closed on each of the remaining raider ships and disabled them. Setting back in his command chair, Tenchi looked at the plot tracks of the disabled raider ships. Noticing that ship number two was the one to come closest to the rift. So that one was to be the first target for boarding, but before that, he had to rendezvous with the on coming assault team.

"Tenjin, plot a course for intercept of the assault team transport. Let us get them and finish this.

Well, that is it for this chapter, sorry about the long wait. I had a very back writers block due to some medication interaction.

Thanks for the reviews folks. Though one of you is trying to figure out the hints of one of my x-overs. For that school you are thinking about, It is fictional, but then again it may be real.

SO now for a hint about that school: IN our ral world it would be located in Harvey Massachusetts, If you can not figure out what school lit is from that hint, then you are not a true follower of that set of stories and games.


	9. Letter to Readers

Ok folks, I am sorry for the long delay for updates. Got a lot of things going on. Looking for work, Full time college (ie retraining for a new career) and who knows maybe one of these days meeting miss right.

But biggest problem, I need two reliable and mature beta readers and editors. IF any one is interested, email me at my address.

Georgiaboy.

Aka

Glen


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